Diabetes with a smile–

Christmas

Ha! Not MY favorite time of the year, that’s for sure. We got hit with eight inches on Saturday — beautiful, but messy and dangerous.

I was in NYC with my children, celebrating my birthday (NOT revealing the number!). 🙂 We went to the Met to see the exquisite Christmas Tree, sometimes referred to as the Angel Tree, and Neapolitan Baroque Creche. It’s a sight to behold, regardless of the religion you profess (or don’t). It’s art, at its finest. Put it on your calendar for next year. You won’t regret it — I promise!

“Angel Tree” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

While we were strolling through the museum, enjoying the VALETIN DE BOULOGNE — BEYOND CARAVAGGIO Exhibit, it was snowing outside; like CRAZY! We were warm, relaxed, and hungry, so we headed to The Petrie Court Cafe, one of the Met’s restaurants, for lunch — so,Let It Snow!

We had worked up an appetite and feasted on food fit for royalty. Most museum food doesn’t do it for me, but our lunch was deeeelicious! I won’t write the specifics — just the thought of our epicurean delights is making me salivate! We were full, and moved on to the remainder of our journey in the museum. Evidently, we walked off that full feeling, because…

Later, after viewing some other exhibits, we returned for dessert. Yes, you heard me right — DESSERT! Something I normally skip when out to lunch/dinner; but, C’mon, it was my birthday. I indulged in a serving of dark, chocolate fudge cake with a small scoop of cappuccino gelato — there go my salivary glands, again! Joking, I said to my kids, “What! No candle?” They chuckled, as my daughter reached into her purse and pulled one out. I laughed knowing they couldn’t light it, but just to be on the safe side, I said, “We’ll get thrown out, if you light that!” At that very moment, my son lit a match and they quickly sung Happy Birthday to You, as I made a wish and blew out the candle!

🙂 That was one of many laughs we had on Saturday. More took place in two Uber rides through the snow (to and from Penn Station), along with a serenade — Happy Birthday to You, just prior to my train’s departure. They made sure that the guests at the restaurant, the visitors and employees at the Met, and the passengers on the train wished me a HB! My stomach hurt from laughing; a multitude of thanks to my chickadees for making yet another birthday — SO much fun. Contrary to research, we believe that a sense of humor is genetic — actually, we know that for sure.

BACK TO WEATHER AND APPETITEand T2D. I don’t know about your inclinations, regarding food and the change in weather, but I know that I definitely BULK UP in winter. Let’s face it, if you live in the “change of season” states, you’ll be cold in the winter months and looking for a nice warm soup or stew, hot coffee or tea. For me, the warm summer weather signals salads and cold drinks.

That being said, it’s been really cold here in the Northeast of the U.S. and so, along with donning my long johns, I HAVE been drinking a lot of herbal tea and eating heavier meals (while monitoring my blood sugar, I might add). HOLY METEOROLOGY! Our temperatures ranged from the 20’s on Saturday (with 8″ of the white stuff), moving up to 46 degrees today (Wednesday), to a predicted possibility of 60 tomorrow!

Jones Beach, of course!

CRAZY! BEACH WEATHER! So where will that put our food cravings tomorrow? Chicken salad, tuna salad, big fat Greek Salad? Dare I say, ice cream? NOOOOooooo. I won’t go that far. Just as the outdoor plants are getting confused with the roller-coaster weather, our internal barometers may not know which way to direct us in terms of food. But fret not, It’s “suspected” that the thermostat will take a dive into the 20’s come Saturday, and then rise up once again during next week.

What to eat? That is the question — not Shakespeare!

It matters not the weather (feeling British), the bottom line is that this Type 2 Diabetic must stay on track — regardless of the barometer.

Monitor blood sugar levels

Exercise — in my case, walk, walk, WALK

Eat properly (Yes, we ALL know what that means!)

Monitor glucose regularly

Started WALKING!

Enjoy the journey, folks. We’re going to be just fine, 🙂 despite the weather.

The holidays are a crazy, busy, time of the year, and that’s what I’ve been! Crazy and busy. (Thus, I haven’t been blogging or writing) I imagine most of you have been running, buying, wrapping — all the “normal” holiday nonsense. For me, it’s over. I celebrate Christmas, and today I de-decorated my house. (Trust me — it took all of ten minutes!) 🙂 I’m done and moving on.

Minimum!

Have you figured it out? This is NOT my favorite time of the year, for a multitude of reasons. Not unusual, I know. Many of us are not thrilled with all the chaos and commercialism attached to the holiday season.

Each year I try to make it better, do it “right.” This time around seemed to be more difficult than those of the recent past; probably, in part, due to my brother’s death in April. We’re usually the two bah-humbugs at Christmas — compadres. We did laugh about it each year and I certainly missed him. We know that emotions have an impact on our eating and, as a result, on our blood sugar levels.

This blog is entitled, Diary of a Dedicated Diabetic, so I’ll move along and focus on T2D. How did you fare during this time of excessive goodies?

I can say that I did pretty well but, I confess it wasn’t perfect. there is NO perfect. I’ve learned over these years to simply do the best I can.

We had Christmas Dinner at my niece and nephew’s home (Thanks, Erika and Keith — it was nothing short of a feast.). It was great. I did have seconds of the sweet potatoes — OMG — they were outstanding! Easy on those carbs, Kathy… As I walked by my niece, carrying my second helping of sweet potatoes, I asked her who prepared them. Her sister-in-law admitted to the feat. Of course, I asked for the recipe — I was told that there were sweet potatoes and sugar. Period. Really bad. The casserole was topped with brown sugar and nuts, but there was a “ton of sugar mixed in with the mashed sweet potatoes.” My niece: “There’s no way you should be eating those.” TOO LATE! O.K., so that was a poor choice but, other than that, the rest of dinner was diabetes-friendly. Most important — I drank a TON of water that day and during the night and was sure to monitor my blood sugar.

Dessert, on the other hand, was insane. My nephew cut up a truckload of fruit. That would have been a good choice. Not the one I made, unfortunately, but good nonetheless. My sister-in-law baked, I’d bet ten different varieties of cookies. My mouth is watering, just thinking about it. All in all, I “probably” had a couple of chocolate chip cookies, I KNOW I had two pieces of fudge, and a couple of peanut butter balls. Thank God there was no cake in sight. Obviously, I slid right down the roller coaster — head first! But, you know what, in the scheme of things, I don’t think it was that bad. I left empty-handed. No dessert in my pockets or a plastic lined pocketbook, and so the night ended. December 26th = back on track.